Schizophrenia

            Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe, and disabling brain disease. It is characterized by loss of control of thought processes and inappropriate emotional responses. It is a serious mental disorder which distorts a person's thoughts, perceptions, moods, and behaviors. "Schizophrenia has been referred to as the worst disorder affecting human beings" said Carpenter & Buchman, 1994.Like other biologically-based illnesses, schizophrenia is a complex medical disorder which affects different people in different ways. Some people may experience only a few acute episodes, and then recover fully, while others have to deal with symptoms throughout their lives. With proper treatment and support, people who have schizophrenia can learn to manage their symptoms and lead regular lives. .
             Approximately 1 percent of the population develops schizophrenia during their lifetime, and more than 2 million Americans suffer from the illness in a given year. Schizophrenia affects men and women equally, but the disorder often appears earlier in men, usually in the late teens or early twenties. Women, however, usually are not affected until their late twenties or early thirties. Children can also be affected with schizophrenia, however it is very rare. (nimh).
             It is thought that schizophrenia results from a combination of inherited genetic .
             factors, external or environmental factors. In order for a person to develop schizophrenia, a number of different factors must come together. Scientists do not yet understand all of the factors necessary to produce schizophrenia, but modern biomedical tools are being used to find factors that may lead to the illness.
             Schizophrenia is known to run the family. People who have a close relative with schizophrenia are more likely to develop the disorder than are people who have no relatives with the illness. A child whose parent has schizophrenia has about a 10 percent chance of inheriting the disease.